Shiitake spawn culture

You asked for information on growing Shiitake.
Get ahold of Paul Stamets book, Growing Gourmet
and Medicinal Mushrooms (10 Speed Press) or John
Donoghue's book on Shiitake growing. Mushroompeople
can set you up with plenty of info, too (e-mail
mushroom at gaia.org, or go to www.gaia.org/farm/
mushroom).
Flour and vermiculite wouldn't be the most commonly
used medium for growing spawn. More common is
soaked grain (rye or wheat, for example) or sawdust-
bran (4 to 1), either one sterilized in a pressure cooker
for at least an hour. If you are going to make your own
spawn, however, you will need to think about how you
are going to keep it free of contaminants. I have
developed a method adding hydrogen peroxide to the
cooled, sterilized spawn medium; this allows the
mushroom mycelium to grow while killing airborne
contaminants that find there way in. (plug) I sell
an instruction manual for Growing Mushrooms with
Hydrogen Peroxide which you may want to invest in
($20) after you get some basic instruction in mush-
room growing from the other sources I mentioned.
--Rush Wayne